Computers and other electronic devices generally require a medium in which digital data can be stored and retrieved. Data storage devices come in a variety of forms and serve a variety of purposes. These devices can be broken down into two general categories: solid state and non-solid state storage devices.
Non-solid state devices are devices that contain moving parts. Some typical non-solid state storage devices are hard disk drives, CD/RW drives and disks, DVD/R/RW drives and disks, floppy disks, tape drives and probe memory devices. These storage devices move one or more media surfaces and/or the associated data head relative to one another to position the data head relative to a desired location or area on the media. The data is then written to or read from this data location. In disk drives for example, data is stored on a disk that rotates at an essentially constant velocity. By moving the head over the rotating disk, all memory locations or sectors of the disk can be accessed.
Solid state storage devices differ from non-solid state devices in that they typically have no moving parts. Solid state storage devices may be used for primary storage of data for a computing device, such as a personal computer, workstation computer, or server computer. An example of a solid state storage device is flash memory.
Flash memory, e.g., NAND flash memory, is comprised of a number of cells, with each cell being similar to a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS) field-effect transistor (FET) and having a gate, a drain, and a source. In addition, the cell includes a “floating gate.” When a voltage is applied between the gate and the source, the voltage difference between the gate and the source creates an electric field, thereby allowing electrons to flow between the drain and the source in the conductive channel created by the electric field. When strong enough, the electric field may force electrons flowing in the channel onto the floating gate via Fowler-Nordheim quantum tunneling. The number of electrons on the floating gate determines a threshold voltage level of the cell.
Flash memory may be broken into two categories: single-level cell (SLC) and multi-level cell (MLC). In SLC flash memory, two voltage levels are used for each cell, thus allowing SLC flash memory to store one bit of information per cell. In MLC flash memory, more than two voltage levels are used for each cell, thus allowing MLC flash memory to store more than one bit per cell.
Flash memory suffers from wear more than non-solid state devices. That is, charges may be applied and removed, e.g., the cell may be written and erased, a finite number of times before the structure of the cell is physically compromised. Although MLC flash memory is capable of storing more bits than SLC flash memory, MLC flash memory suffers from more wear than SLC flash memory.